Crossing Borders is about bringing you unique perspectives that question the status quo, provoke self-introspection, and inspire you to cross self-imposed borders. It is also about bringing you cross cultural stories and themes with an independent voice – about women who navigate geographical, professional and social borders. Whether you’re looking for wider context and meaning, in-depth analysis, or inspiration, we’ll bring you pieces that enlighten and energize.

Wall Street Bosses Are Calling This 'The Best Cover Letter Ever' - But Not Everyone Agrees

Well, at least for the brutally honest and hilariously self-deprecating young student, whose cover letter publicized on Business Insider, has generated a ton of positive interest amongst investment banking bosses.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the recipient of the e-mail immediately forwarded it on to colleagues, adding, “This might be the best cover letter I’ve ever received. Second and third paragraphs especially.”

Another added to the e-mail chain, “I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy gets at least a call from every bank out there.”

For your reading pleasure, I’m including the letter in full and have taken the liberty to highlight the classic bits.

From: BLOCKED

Sent: Monday, January 14, 2013 1:14PM

To: BLOCKED

Subject: Summer Internship

Dear BLOCKED

My name is (BLOCKED) and I am an undergraduate finance student at (BLOCKED). I met you the summer before last at Smith & Wollensky’s in New York when I was touring the east coast with my uncle, (BLOCKED). I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to talk with me that night.

I am writing to inquire about a possible summer internship in your office. Iam aware it is highly unusual for undergraduates from average universities like (BLOCKED) to intern at (BLOCKED), but nevertheless I was hoping you might make an exception. I am extremely interested in investment banking and would love nothing more than to learn under your tutelage. I have no qualms about fetching coffee, shining shoes or picking up laundry, and will work for next to nothing. In all honesty, I just want to be around professionals in the industry and gain as much knowledge as I can.

I won’t waste your time inflating my credentials, throwing around exaggerated job titles, or feeding you a line of crapp (sic) about how my past experiences and skill set align perfectly for an investment banking internship. The truth is I have no unbelievably special skills or genius eccentricities, but I do have a near perfect GPA and will work hard for you. I’ve interned for Merrill Lynch in the Wealth Management Division and taken an investment banking class at (BLOCKED), for whatever that is worth.

I am currently awaiting admission results for (BLOCKED) Masters of Science in Accountancy program, which I would begin this fall if admitted. I am also planning on attending law school after my master’s program, which we spoke about in New York. I apologize for the blunt nature of my letter, but I hope you seriously consider taking me under your wing this summer. I have attached my resume for your review. Feel free to call me at (BLOCKED) or email at (BLOCKED). Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

BLOCKED.

Not everyone is impressed by this cover letter though.

Lex van Dam, former top trader at Goldman Sachs and head of hedge fund, Hampstead Capital, takes a dim view of the over-hyped reactions of the Wall Street bosses.

“They live on a different planet – and probably have never seen any of these letters before as their HR departments are trained monkeys.”

In other words, another example of a viral letter for entertainment purposes, that is much ado about nothing. And yes, I’m doing my best to ignore the ‘trained monkeys’ bit.

He goes on to explain, “The letter is well written and makes you have great sympathy for the applicant. However, it also feels as a call for charity. I would still prefer the candidate to have something special about them that they can tell me about , rather than a person who pretty much admits that he or she is pretty average. This letter is really not an exception – plenty of smart, hard working, honest people are begging for jobs that are just not available. To get ahead unfortunately, writing beautiful letters is not likely what will get you the job – doing extra ordinary things and thinking outside the box is.”

Still though – you’ve got to hand it to the applicant, who is probably the one in all of this having the last laugh: the seemingly average candidate may just have scored the internship of his or her dreams – the one that most college students would give their eyeteeth for – and it all came down to an average, albeit inspired cover letter.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.

Hi again…sorry Maseena, realise I said it was ‘your’ statement and not Van Dam’s…..was puzzled when you said the applicant did what he suggested, then I re-read and realised where I misinterpreted the quote.

To look at this strategy as “brilliant” or “shocking” seems absurd. As a current seeker of employment I think cover letters are almost a complete toss up. There are several obvious approaches one can take to make his or her cover letter stand out more and the whole “honesty/upfront” approach is one of them.

Sure there are general guidelines as to what makes a cover letter strong vs. weak, but I would think that everything from company philosophy, industry, and each individual recruiter/employee who reads a cover letter affects which cover letter approach works best. The problem with that is it’s nearly impossible to accurately anticipate all of the afore mentioned variables, especially the individual recruiters. The problem of variables contradicting one another also makes things difficult.

In my opinion the best insight here comes from Lex Van Dam:

“To get ahead unfortunately, writing beautiful letters is not likely what will get you the job – doing extra ordinary things and thinking outside the box is.”

You must convince someone in writing that you’re good enough to warrant meeting before they’ll even consider trialing you. Most employers read an applicants CV and cover letter before ever meeting them face-to-face, so how could you “show” them anything?

Many years ago, I wrote a cover letter very much like this. But in my case, it was to remove the barriers that would come with applying for a job in which my greatest fear was being seen as OVERqualified. I’m not so sure I’d send it for a job in which I’m seen as lacking the necessary credentials to qualify.

I was changing careers and knew I had to start at the bottom of my new industry when I was 41 years old and already had some 20 years of experience behind me. I wanted to remove doubts that I had enough humility to learn a new set of skills from a blank slate that wasn’t so blank.

I received mixed reviews to it as well, but the job I eventually got called me within 20 minutes of having received my email application. The director there told me that it was the best cover letter she’d ever received because it highlighted my own voice and did achieve what I’d set out to do.

The writer has spirit, gumption and initiative – all qualities that I want to see in a possible candidate. Add to that he’s a good student, a great writer and has followed through on plans to lay a strong foundation for his dream career.

I’d much rather hire the creative mind who’s a little bit of a ham (and who has a solid record) than an average candidate with the same solid record.

All you people who are putting down the kid’s letter (Van Dam, Kelly Nichols, Ziegler, and others), are probably robotic ordinary average “achievers” who wouldn’t ever be able to come up with a Sun Tzu like strategy of this kid. You simply got your jobs because someone had a checklist and you happened to have filled all the checks on the list. how original. BOOOORING. people like u would never be leaders, only followers.

I actually think the candidate came across as humble & quite genius, as I mentioned in an earlier comment. I believe Nichols’ applauded his humility, and Van Dam did say it was a well written letter – but at the same time, he offered another perspective (as a veteran of the industry) on how such a letter could be perceived. Thanks for taking the time to comment.